Obama, Axelrod, and Gun Control in a Second Term?

The overachieving Charles C. Johnson of the Breitbart domain and several other enterprises (and a recent product of the Claremont brain factory), writes in exclusively to Power Line with a topic that Obama ought to be asked about in one of the debates—will a second-term Obama press for gun control? Apparently his chief strategist likes the idea:

David Axelrod called on citizens to “put pressure” on lawmakers and demagogued the recent shooting of a Chicagoan over the Christmas holiday. In an article titled simply, “Gun Control,” Axelrod prophesized there might come a time when guns could be restricted, writing on January 2, 1974:

“Thus far, that pressure [to pass gun control laws] has not been forthcoming. But maybe someday there will be one too many blood murders, one too many homicides entered into the police files, and that “pressure from the people” will come.”

Axelrod wanted to extend Chicago’s controversial gun ban and restriction law to the entirety of Illinois, and like Mayor Daley, pushed to make gun laws still stricter in his daily column for the Hyde Park Herald. He applauded the efforts of former New York Mayor John Lindsay to demand stricter federal gun laws and condemned efforts by the National Rifle Association to “thwart” those laws.

To his credit, Axelrod realized that the Chicago anti-gun approach wasn’t working. “Clearly, the gun problem is a perplexing one,” Axelrod wrote. “The registration laws have been ineffective, and any effort to construct stricter gun control laws will be crushed by the monstrous gun lobby.” What was needed was more gun control laws, beyond the usual registration and safety courses advocated by gun restrictionists.

Over and over again, Axelrod called for more anti gun laws in his column. There was, for instance, the glowing profile he did of the Civic Disarmament committee, which sought to pass handgun bans (January 16, 1974).

State Senator Barack Obama shared Axelrod’s views, pushing for gun control at every opportunity, including in the aftermath of tragic shootings in Chicago’s notoriously violent—and anti-gun—South Side. (See The Vetting: Obama Has Demagogued Guns, from 2000 to Today). Indeed, Obama campaigned on making gun control laws restricted in his 2000 bid for Congress.

The views Axelrod expressed in The Hyde Park Herald then provide an unusual glimpse into the politics and agenda of the man whom the president says shares nearly all of his political views. The anti-gun views also provide an insight into what the Obama Administration might do in a second term.